Kingswood girls win Gilford tourney

GILFORD — The Kingswood girls basketball team steamrolled over Gilford to become the 2012 Holiday Basketball Tournament Champions with a 47-30 win.

Kingswood was led by Tournament MVP and All Tournament First Team selection Nicole Matarozzo, who scored 15 points on the night. Emily Rumery also contributed with an intense offensive performance that resulted in 13 points with many of them on hard drives to the basket. She was named to the All Tournament team following the game.

Gilford was led by All Tournament team First Team selection Abigail Harris, who scored 10, and All Tournament Second Team member Molly Dietrich, who scored 11.

Poor shooting by Gilford and great defense by Kingswood was the story of the game.

According to Gilford coach Rick Forge, the team’s low shooting percentage was a glaring reason for the loss. Many of the shots came from close to the basket, which is where Forge wanted his team to be taking shots because they have not had a very good outside shooting game. However, on this night the shots just didn’t fall.

“We didn’t shoot well,” said Forge. “We were 11 of 54 tonight or something, and you know, that really hurt us.”

Forge also noted that the play of Kingswood center Emma Tierney, listed at six feet, two inches, really disrupted his team’s play. He said that she has been a force and that Gilford’s players did not match up well with their size in the middle.

Tierney scored four points and gathered up offensive and defensive rebounds throughout the night, but getting five blocks and forcing bad shots was the key to her game and inevitably Kingswood’s win.

The first half was fairly tight with Kingswood up 20-14, until the end of the second quarter when the Knights began to take over. Matarozzo hit a three and Kingswood players were regularly getting to the line.

A definitive part of the game came during this quarter. During a one minute stretch Tierney made a great inside bucket, grabbed a defensive rebound on the following possession and picked up an assist before blocking a shot. This is the type of play that she exhibited throughout the game and the tournament.

Kingswood pulled away quickly in the second half. Gilford had plenty of scoring opportunities but couldn’t take advantage while Kingswood made the most of its scoring opportunities.

Coach Grady Charland was very pleased with the performance of his team, saying that defensively they had a great game and tournament. He also said that rebounding and transition from offense back to defense was a key reason for the win. Now, he said, the team can take this win and roll with it into the rest of the season.

“It’s a good feeling especially for the girls,” said Charland. “It’s the right way to end the year. The schedule gets tougher in the second half so this is a big confidence builder for us.”

Both teams return to regular season action Friday with Kingswood (2-3 in Division II) visiting Kingswood and Gilford (4-2) traveling to Laconia for a 6:30 p.m. contest.